The voice telling Gemma Spofforth to keep getting into the pool grew faint at
times over the last two years.

Family bereavement had left her questioning her motivation, illness and injury undermined her attempts to get back to the form that enabled her to break the world record in 2009.

Twice last year she made the decision to quit, only to change her mind and then over Christmas again questioned her will to carry on.

On Monday, at the British Swimming Championships at the Olympic Aquatics Centre in London, that faint voice was vindicated: Spofforth qualified for the Games when she won a thrilling 100 metres backstroke final in 1min 00.19sec.

If she had lost, it may well have been the last race of her career.

“It has been a year shrouded in doubt for me and there have been times when I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to do it,” she said.

“Over Christmas I was really wondering whether I still had the strength. To come back in the pool that will host the Olympics was incredible.”

Spofforth, 24, will be joined at the Games by Georgia Davies, the Welsh swimmer touching in 1-00.21 to put her within the qualifying time, but Lizzie Simmonds, who came third, will need to fall back on the 200m backstroke if she is to be part of the Olympic party. Fortunately for her it is her stronger event.

It was an incredibly tight race, the top three being separated by just 0.24sec.

Spofforth looked like she had left herself too much to do as they sprinted for the wall but finished powerfully, plunging under to touch just ahead of Davies.

“My strength comes from lots of different places,” Spofforth said. “I have had a lot of ups and downs over the last five years, a lot of highs and lows and it all comes down to that last 10 metres for me.”

Since her mother died of bowel cancer five years ago, Spofforth has found it difficult to reconcile her emotional life with competitive swimming.

She has admitted that she channelled the anger at the loss of her mother into the pool and, while still grieving, she won the 2009 World Championships and broke the world record.

Since then she has not found anything “to fill the void” left when the anger eased.

She struggled for motivation and when her mother’s partner died last year she questioned her priorities and came to the brink of quitting.

She had begun working as a counsellor in Florida, where she lives and trains, and wondered if she should dedicate more time to her family.

Having resolved to stick with the sport through to the Olympics, Spofforth then had a miserable time at the World Championships in Shanghai, falling ill just before the meet and not even making it out of the heats as she tried to defend her title.

Not long after returning to Florida she broke her nose and toes in a bike crash.

She has been entered for the 200m backstroke, the final of which is on Friday, but this was her strongest event. Had she been half a second slower, her career would have effectively come to an end.

“If I hadn’t qualified that would have been it, these would have been my last races,” she said. “I had to leave everything in the pool.”

It was also an emotional night for Kate Haywood, another swimmer who had contemplated giving up the sport. She won the 100m breaststroke final in 1-08.07, touching within the required time.

A persistent hip injury three years ago ended up needing an operation and the former BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year was deeply frustrated.

She needed a fresh start, left Loughborough and moved to Melbourne and adapted her stroke. Her qualification was a reward for that dedication.

Less fraught was Liam Tancock’s race in the men’s 100m backstroke. The world 50m champion qualified comfortably, his time of 53.16sec more than a second within what was needed.

“It is all about coming here and doing the job, making the Olympic team,” he said. “In the bigger picture this was a stepping stone on the way to the Games.”

Video: Liam Tancock

Robbie Renwick, who had already qualified for the 400m freestyle, also secured his place in the 200m freestyle.

The Commonwealth champion, based in Glasgow, has gone fourth fastest in the world this year but will face a formidable field in the summer, including the American pair of Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte and German world record holder Paul Biedermann.

There was disappointment for Ieuen Lloyd in the 200m freestyle, Chris Walker-Hebborn in the 100m backstroke and Stacey Tadd in the 100m breaststroke: all finished second but could not make the qualifying time.

The runners-up needed to better the top 16 in the world for 2011 but fell short. They, and their rivals, will get another chance at the ASA Championships in June.